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Abstract

This paper is complementary to my earlier paper on Public
Intervention and Poverty Alleviation: Declining Incidence of Rural
Poverty in Kerala (published in 1995). The objective of this paper is to
go beyond the notion of income-poverty and consider the achievements
in advancing basic human capabilities. Written for an Asian audience,
the paper highlights Kerala’s achievements in advancing basic human
capabilities to an extent that is far above than would be warranted by its
per capita income. For this reason, the experience of Kerala, along with
a few other countries, has received considerable attention in the
development literature. This paper highlights Kerala’s achievements by
comparing them with six Asian countries’ performance. These countries
are: India, China, Thailand, Malasia, Indonesia and Sri Lanka. After
examining the significance of Kerala’s achievements, the paper discusses
Kerala’s record in relation to the selected six Asian countries. In addition,
the paper also briefly deals with Kerala’s achievements in relation to
all-India since the Indian experience in general is one of slow progress
and the task ahead is quite considerable both in absolute terms as well as
in relation to most other countries. Emphasis has been given to public
action by which Kerala has achieved considerable reduction in poverty.
Here I have identified education as the central process through which
other changes in society, especially for the poor, were brought about. In
this process, the importance and impact of historical factors in poverty
alleviation have been highlighted. Finally an attempt has been made to
draw some lessons from the Kerala experience by focusing on the role
of public action.
JEL Classification: I 30, I 31, I 32
Key Words: Education, health status, human capabilities, human
deprivation, Human Poverty Index, income-poverty, mobilisation,
poverty alleviation, public action.